'Virus Economy' Sees NYC Businesses Pivot To Meet COVID-19 Demand

WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — Massive coronavirus-fueled demand for supplies such as face masks and hand sanitizer have some city businesses branching into new merchandise.

Local small businesses like Sixth Avenue Smoke Shop near West Third Street in the Village are quickly adapting to the rush of shoppers looking to stay healthy as the number of novel coronavirus cases mounts in New York City.

The shop — which usually sells vapes, hookahs and other smoking supplies – stocked up on thousands of face masks and hand sanitizers weeks before New York City's first confirmed case.

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Their supply has outlasted the CVS across the street and Ansonia Pharmacy a few blocks away, both of which have empty shelves.

"We're the only ones that have them," owner Furquan Kholani said Wednesday. "It's been crazy."

(Anna Quinn/Patch) Ansonia Pharmacy on Sixth Avenue is out of stock of hand sanitizer, masks and antibacterial wipes.

Kholani said he figured people would come looking for the masks and sanitizer — he usually sells just the soap, but not at this volume — about a month ago. They have sold about 1,500 of both products just in the last week.

The number of coronavirus cases has more than tripled in New York City this week, with a total of 62 cases confirmed Thursday morning.

And Sixth Avenue Smoke Shop is far from the only small business capitalizing on the gaps in what some have called the "virus economy."

(Coronavirus In NYC: A Roundup Of What's Happened)

A stationary shop, also on Sixth Avenue, said they've also stocked up on respirator masks and hand sanitizer in the last few weeks. They already sold sanitizer, but added the mask order when the coronavirus hit, an employee there said.

(Anna Quinn/Patch) A stationary shop on Sixth Avenue has started selling masks amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Another smoke shop, Village Vape and Cigar on West Fourth Street, has ordered more disinfectant wipes than usual to keep up with demand.

The wipes are meant to clean devices, but customers struggling to find soap or sanitizer have started buying them for personal use, too, manager Alex Patel said.

"They ask and say, 'I can use that, I guess, it's better than nothing,'" Patel said.

Kholani attributes some of the spike in sales to the fact that his shop isn't price-gouging the supplies as other stores have. Masks are still just $2, Kholani said.

"[Customers] are more happy for the price," he said.

(Anna Quinn/Patch). Sixth Avenue Smoke Shop advertises its hand sanitizer and mask supply in the windows.

But even luxury shops are getting in on the coronavirus demand.

Soapology, a high-end cosmetic store on Bleecker Street, said they will take Gov. Andrew Cuomo's approach and begin making their own hand sanitizer to sell alongside their handmade soaps. Customers have come in asking specifically for sanitizer in the last few weeks, an employee there said.

"People want it because you can take it everywhere with you," said the employee, who did not want to give her name.

The spike in sales for retailers and small shops selling health supplies comes as other businesses, namely Chinese restaurants facing stigma from misinformation about how and where novel coronavirus spreads, have seen the opposite effect from the outbreak. The stock market has also not fared well, to say the least.

As of Thursday, there have been nearly 128,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus worldwide and more than 4,700 deaths related to COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins' virus tracker. In the U.S., 1,323 people have tested positive.